


Necessary Distraction

by Dr_TJ_Eckleburg



Category: Bride of Re-Animator (1989), Re-Animator (1985)
Genre: M/M, What happens in Peru...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 09:51:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5329763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_TJ_Eckleburg/pseuds/Dr_TJ_Eckleburg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan is feeling particularly pathetic and so he turns to Herbert for a much needed distraction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Necessary Distraction

Eerie quiet had settled over the camp like an oppressive fog. Volunteers and wounded drifted from tent to tent in the soupy darkness like spirits lost in Purgatory. In this humid valley of death, it was an absurdly easy comparison to make. Hell, perhaps they _were_ all dead, even Dan. A morbid thought. 

The young volunteer across the way with her neat blonde bob and petite form didn’t help matters. In spite of their grim surroundings, she was smiling, laughing--some unattainable light at the end of the tunnel. She even moved like Meg, the starkest of the ghosts in the dismal jungle.

It was that sharp, familiar pain in his chest which drove Dan back into the medical tent he shared with his partner. That tent held within a rare sight indeed.

Herbert West was sleeping.

Not only was he sleeping, he was using a cot like a normal human being, his arms wrapped neatly over his stomach and his glasses carefully placed on the ground alongside a haphazardly folded white coat. He was otherwise fully clothed, down to his boots.

In the dim light with dark eyelashes against pale skin and mouth drawn, Herbert’s appearance made it impossible for Dan to pull his mind from the morose. He looked preserved, perfectly placid, nothing like the overly-kinetic scientist Dan had come to know. Of course, he’d seen him sleep before--however rare the phenomenon--but this time it was all too easy to perceive the color draining from his cheeks and the rise and fall of his chest coming to an abrupt halt.

And for a moment, the very idea turned Dan’s insides to ice.

It hardly seemed possible. So far he had proven indestructible, a formidable foe to their adversary Death. What hope was there to be had in the world if Death were to strike back and conquer Herbert West? 

Dan knew it was truly naive thinking such a thing, but the discomfort crawling over his skin forced him to reach out and brush anxious fingers along the healthy warmth of Herbert’s cheek, his lips. He allowed his touch to extend to his sleeping partner’s throat before a soft hum of disapproval caused Dan to pull his hand back. He turned to the small wash basin just as Herbert opened his eyes and pushed himself promptly into a sitting position.

“Hey. How did you sleep?” Dan asked, sifting unnecessary water through his fingers before turning to face his partner.

Herbert replaced his glasses. “Miserably. It’s a worthless endeavor. I am, however, interested in taking advantage of the lull in activity around here. There is much we could accomplish in our free time.”

Dan sighed. “It’s too quiet.”

Herbert gave something of a snort. “Do you prefer the cacophony of gunfire, Dan?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Herbert, it’s my favorite. Look, you know as well as I do that things can get a little loud when we bring back the dead. I have a feeling we’d attract some unwanted attention.”

“There are many facets to our research,” Herbert said softly as he joined Dan at the basin, dipping pale fingers. “It’s not all shrieking cadavers.”

Of course, it was difficult to get past the shrieking cadavers. The dead made a sound that was all their own when they were dragged back to life. Even Meg had wailed like some woebegone banshee. He shivered. At so grim a thought, Dan couldn’t keep the question from his lips. He cleared his throat. “Herbert.”

“Hmm.”

“If you… if something were to happen to you… I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Herbert grinned grimly. “Dan. Your concern is touching.”

He turned to walk away, but Dan gripped the diminutive scientist by the arm. Their eyes locked in the hazy darkness and against good judgment, he reached out again to trace his thumb along Herbert’s jaw.

“Do you need _assistance_?” Herbert asked quietly but with a certain pride.

“I need a distraction,” Dan murmured before pressing an exploratory kiss to his throat, pulling their bodies together.

“I see.” Herbert ran delicate hands over the curve of Dan’s back before allowing one to settle possessively at his waist. “If I died. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes.” He sucked lightly at the nape of his neck.

“Rest assured, I don’t intend to die any time soon.”

Neither did Meg. “People rarely _intend_ to die, Herbert.” But his stark confidence was somehow delicious, and he brought their mouths together, teeth grazing his lower lip. Herbert had started out quite tentative in their endeavors, though he quickly sought to mimic Dan in some ways-- fingers ghosting over skin in familiar patterns, lips meeting identically. Now he was well on his way to crafting his own signature.

“If I did… perish… I would hope you would take the necessary measures to bring me back.”

Dan couldn’t even entertain the idea of this man flying off the table like so many of their botched experiments. For even an iota of that personality to be lost to Death’s abyss was unacceptable. Instead of answering, he saw fit to kiss him again, happy to feel him warm to his touch. 

It was easy to think Herbert some machine, something inhuman, but now Dan wanted nothing more than to drown in him, his pulse, the shallow gasps that left his throat. They were, each of them, reminders of his humanity, the warmth of life that rushed just beneath that cold exterior.

He was not that machine he seemed to wish he were. Herbert was bone, flesh, muscle, every medium through which they crafted their awful and wondrous work. Now in the gloom of the tent, Dan’s clouded mind could, for a moment, only perceive his partner as those parts and not their sum; a clever mouth, artful hands and sharp hazel eyes.

Dan leisurely rolled his hips against Herbert’s, his mouth returning to his throat to elicit some pleasant, knowing hum. Dan flicked open shirt buttons, knelt slightly to taste his skin; a chill shot down his spine at the thought of the heart racing beneath his lips.

To make that heart beat so swiftly was to combat the very weariness which haunted Dan. He could, in some rare moment of control, pluck himself and Herbert from their awful purgatory. Or, at least, it was a comforting notion to ponder. He imagined his partner did not view their situation as such, but all the same, the friction between them--the heat--was a wonderful diversion.

On the alabaster canvas of his skin, pink colored Herbert’s cheeks. It was one of his lingering virginal qualities, and though Dan knew he surely hated anyone seeing him this way, it was one he hoped would remain. He reached to palm Herbert’s erection through his trousers with an easy hand.

Dan closed his eyes when he kissed him again, blotted out bad memories with his mouth. Strange how he could serve as some kind of escape when he was the cruel architect of this nightmare in the first place. Dan teased and stroked until he was flush against him, and soon he was on his knees to bow before the man who both ruined and saved him.

The short breath, the aborted moan that caught in Herbert’s throat as Dan flicked his tongue over the head of his cock admittedly made Dan’s own blood rush downward. He teased him briefly at the slit, pleased with the shiver that raced through his partner. He was already vaguely salty with precome. Dan ran a languid tongue along his shaft.

“It’s all chemical,” Herbert breathed and threaded his fingers through Dan’s hair. “Procedural. And distraction is a necessary component of our work. In minute doses, it can sharpen the mind. There’s the mounting of tension and then the release of… oh…”

Dan had taken him fully in his mouth, lips pursed and cheeks hollowed. He roughly gripped his hips.

“It is a means to an end. And if you find this to be an integral part of our work, then I suppose…” Herbert gasped suddenly and removed his glasses to feverishly flick them between thumb and forefinger. It was an exaggerated display of gratification, the hallmark perhaps of an actor playing a role, but all the same it delighted Dan. “Oh, Daniel, you know I value your input.”

They were quickly able to find the rhythm they were well on their way to perfecting. Herbert softly moaned his name with such reverence, he might as well have been Saint Daniel for the rest of time.

Dan wished he could help the feeling that he was playing with fire. It hadn’t been long since they began indulging in this “integral part of their work,” but already Herbert had shed many of his more novice tendencies. Control was a lovely notion to entertain, but deep down, Dan knew better. Now with every kiss, every touch, every carefully-timed fuck, Dan felt more and more as though he were stepping into a trap. It left him completely torn open, exposed under Herbert’s penetrating gaze.

Admittedly, Herbert wouldn’t last long. He rarely did. When he did come, he gave a slight yelp, hips shuddering. Dan swallowed, guiding him through orgasm.

Once he was standing again moments later, Dan whispered against his lips, “One more thing.”

“Another question?” Herbert sighed breathlessly. “I fear I am not adequately distracting you.”

Dan shook his head and tried not to think of the blonde he’d seen outside, the abominable shrieking that still sabotaged his dreams. “If something were to happen to _me_ … promise me you won’t bring me back.”

Herbert frowned momentarily at the statement as he buttoned his trousers, but he quickly hid his concern and reached out to plant a firm hand on Dan’s shoulder. “Of course. My dear Daniel.” He grinned and proudly stalked off like the cat who did not simply kill the canary, but then brought him back to life so that he might prolong the game.

Dan breathed an anxious sigh. He could still taste his partner on his lips, and he hissed to himself, “ _Liar._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> HUGE thanks go to Backwards-Blackbird on Tumblr for editing this about a zillion times.


End file.
